HYPE
Solo show by/Mostra personale di Marco Mendeni
May 29 - June 17 2017
Curated by/a cura di Matteo Bittanti
Project economART
Preview Day: May 29, 2017 6:30 pm
The gallery is open from Monday to Friday between 10-13; 16-19
Saturday and Sunday by appointment only
Via Lovanio 6, Milano
MM2 Moscova
+39.02.654872
Marco Mendeni, r lightTweakSunlight 01, 2015
Instead of wondering what the future will be, Marco Mendeni asks what the future is for, and who needs it. Algorithms and cybernetics, machines and apparatuses, video games and simulations are the raw material that he translates into new codes. The outcome is a uniquely computational way of seeing the world. And yet, in his wildly eclectic body of work, one can glimpse a peculiar nostalgia (disenchantment?) for the future, a sense of longing for a utopia that never materialized. In an age of widespread skepticism for Silicon Valley’s betrayed promises of emancipation and empowerment, Mendeni invites us to reflect on the overt and implicit effects of technology. The etymology of hype can be traced back to the 1920s, when it was first used to indicate an extravagant, flashy or intensive publicity, exposure, and promotion. In other words, hype is a form of deception. Its usage skyrocketed in the 1950 during the Cold War and, in the 1990s, it became a staple of tech journalism. Hype is about fetishizing the new in new media but also acknowledging planned obsolescence as a standard production mode of late capitalism. But Mendeni is not a marketer. He’s not a technological determinist either. Rather than endorsing acritically, he explores the contemporary technoscapes like an archeologist from tomorrow. He investigates competing versions of the future, rejecting simple causality and instead highlighting correlations, unexpected situations, and unplanned outcomes. In his works, graphene and concrete, motion and stasis perfectly coexist. Hype is a dream, hype is a nightmare. Hype is a state of constant excitement but also deep anxiety. Hype is a condition of anticipation but also delayed gratification. Hype is not hope. Hype is now.
Matteo Bittanti
Credits:
HYPE, a project by Marco Mendeni
Robotics/Fabrication: Gordon Marmi, WeMake Milano
Custom Software: WeMake Milano
LINK: Marco Mendeni
